I’d Like to Tell You About a Friend of Mine that Just Passed Away

The first time I met Marv Chamberlain was at a Twin Falls Kiwanismeeting. I was new to the club, and at the very first meeting he said hello and asked me to sit next to him. And now, 7 years later, it's time to say goodbye.

Marv was a lot like all my favorite Kiwanians...busy doing a million things, funny, and just a touch different from the rest of the world.

Not long after that, I was asked to become a Key Club District Administrator so had to be at a Utah-Idaho Kiwanis District Board meeting (you know how it is...you join a club, you got experience in ABC, and BOOM! You're doing ABC).

It was in Utah, a little town in the middle of nothing. Like...nothing. We met in the Senior Center. There was nothing else there, man.

The long drive both ways, and during the meeting, taking care of business and cracking jokes, he and I had fun.

That's what it's like in a organization like Kiwanis (I'm sure it's the same for Rotary, but without the whips for poor attendance #RotaryJokes). You make friends friend with people that leave an indelible mark on your soul.

You are ALWAYSbetter for knowing these kind of people.

The last time I heard from Marv, he sent me a past-president pin, attached to a ticket for the Kiwanis Chili Feed ticket...he said, "I owed you $5, so I bought your ticket for you."

Marv passed away just last Sunday. Cancer. I didn't know, but, honestly, I hadn't kept up. I was busy doing...stuff. Stuff that mattered, and stuff that didn't matter. That's life, right? We get bogged down in the every day and occasionally get handed moments to remind us Ferris Bueller was right.

Rest in peace, my friend. you helped me make a life in a town strange to me.